Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the state's investigation into the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach is facing interference from the federal government.
The FBI is leading the investigation into the attempted shooting that occurred while President Trump was playing on the golf course on Sunday, but Governor DeSantis announced earlier this week that a joint task force from the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will also investigate state laws that suspect Ryan Routh allegedly violated.
“No, they're not cooperating. Yes, I'm concerned. For example, our investigators were refused entry to just the outside of the fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. I think they're taking the position that they don't want the state of Florida involved in this. But the thing is, there have been multiple violations of Florida state law,” DeSantis said. Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“We need to know how he got to Florida in the first place.”
DeSantis said investigators believe Routh broke the law in three Florida jurisdictions. The most serious crime Routh could be charged with — attempted murder — would be a Florida charge because Trump is not currently a federal employee. Routh has previously been charged federally with gun-related crimes.
“We have an obligation to investigate this. We have an obligation to file appropriate charges. We also have an obligation to let the public know how this happened,” DeSantis continued. “So I don't anticipate they're going to be cooperative.”
When asked who Routh actually was, DeSantis said he had instructed law enforcement to archive all of Routh's social media posts before the companies took down his profile, which ended up happening on X and Facebook.
“We need to know how he got to Florida in the first place, what the circumstances were that led this guy to those bushes. We don't have answers for Mr. Butler. We don't have answers for cases like the Las Vegas shooting,” DeSantis added.
Another big question is why the area along the club's fence where Routh was for hours was not checked for anyone hiding there, despite it having been a known safety concern for years.
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